Chapter Ten, Part I: Tribulation
I have borrowed the character Mercedes Carello, featured in The Jaguar and The Burning Titan (parts I and II) by MercedesCarello. I am ever so grateful!
Alois and Eve raced back to the village, leaving Armin to bring in the rear, but he didn't mind. It was nice, watching them have so much fun- especially after Alois had been at Eve's throat for so long. He still wasn't entirely sure what the actual argument had been about, only that Alois was angry with her for keeping secrets. He was a little worried about going to the village with them. What sort of fighting would break out this time? He hadn't heard much of the conversation last time, but he did know the situation had been hard on Eve. He was reluctant to watch that happen once more.
Eve was the winner of the little race. As soon as she'd hopped down on the ground near the stables, she found her horse an apple for his victory treat. Armin found it odd that no one had come to greet them. They set about removing the saddles from their horses and brushing them down before releasing them into the small coral. Eve wasn't quite all smiles, but she did appear to be in a good mood. Her primary expression alternated between a soft smile and her typical half-smirk. The temptation to ask her what she found funny was difficult to resist.
"Where is everyone?" Alois asked, bringing up the question Armin wanted to ask himself. "I thought Mina would be over here by now…"
"Now that you mention it," Eve remarked, her smirk falling away, "I didn't see those Garrison soldiers around either. Something is wrong." Armin felt the same sinking in his stomach that he imagined Eve was feeling. Leaving their bags at the stables, they all jogged over to the nearby village. Farther down the packed dirt road, there was a small group of people. He recognized Mercedes standing in the center, her boot crushing the face of a tall, dark-skinned man into the dirt while she held his hands high behind his back. Christophe and Doc were both there, along with Mina, but they didn't look like they were trying to make her stop.
Christophe, facing their direction, was the first to notice them. "Eve!" He waved them over and Eve picked up her pace to a sprint. He and Alois followed only seconds behind. When he reached the small group, he stared hard at the man on the ground. It was the same man Eve had chased through the market.
"Let me go!" he was demanding from the ground.
"Not until you explain what you are doing here!" Mercedes shouted down at him, jerking his arms higher in the air and making him grunt in pain. "This entire area is restricted!"
"How was I supposed to know that?" he protested.
Eve tapped Mercedes on the shoulder. "Thanks," the shorter woman said softly. Mercedes just nodded once, watching in as much confusion as Armin himself was in. Eve crouched on the ground by the man's face. "Good to see you again, Aldrich. Why'd you run yesterday?"
"Didn't expect to see your skinny ass still alive," the man shot back with the same smirk Eve always wore. "Guess the Titan's don't like skin and bones." To Armin's great surprise, her fist shot out, clipping his cheek and forcing his face into the dirt.
"Why are you here?" she asked. Her tone was calm, but it wasn't difficult to detect the strain that kept it that way.
Armin glanced over at the others. Mina, Alois, Doc, and Christophe all wore varying expressions of shock, although Christophe looked angrier than the other two, and Mina looked close to tears. Alois hadn't moved or said a word, which worried him slightly. From what Armin had picked up on, Alois was usually quick to react; total shock wasn't something Armin related back to him. Doc just looked betrayed, his now-shaven cheeks sagging in a heavy frown and his thick white eyebrows almost covering his eyes.
"I can't visit my own people?" Aldrich grumbled. "'Least someone taught you how to throw a punch."
"You can thank Christophe for that," Eve responded. "You didn't show up here after all these years just for a visit." As if reading Eve's thoughts, Mercedes pressed her boot harder into his head. "Don't make me ask you again."
"Look who grew a set of balls!" the man teased with a loud laugh. "You let me up and I just might talk to you."
"Oh, that's not going to happen," Mercedes answered. "You're staying right here until my people get back with the Military Police."
Eve glanced up at Mercedes, her expression grim. "I owe you for this," she said. "I chased after him yesterday, but he managed to get away from me. Eve stood up and rubbed the back of her head. He could see from her small, annoyed frown that she'd expected her braid. Instead, she found her nearly-shorn scalp.
"Eve…" Christophe had stepped closer to her, placing one hand on her shoulder. "What is going on?"
"I saw Aldrich yesterday in the market," she said with an angry shrug, jerking away from his hand. "I chased after him, but he managed to slip away from me."
"I thought he was dead," Alois stated, stepping closer.
"I watched him get eaten!" Eve snapped. She held out both of her hands. "Don't you remember my hands and arms being blistered? I tried to cut him out of the Titan!"
"Of course I remember!" Alois shouted back. "Everyone was freaked out for weeks!"
"How is this possible?" Doc asked in a raspy whisper.
"Exactly what I'd like to know," Eve growled, turning her head to glare down at the man still face-down in the dirt. "I never thought I'd have to treat my mentor as an enemy."
"You're the one who brought everyone behind the Wall!" Aldrich shouted up at her. His eyes were narrowed and he spat into the dirt at Eve's feet. "I haven't seen Micah anywhere. What the fuck happened to him?"
"Micah's dead," Alois stated flatly. Armin watched in silence as Alois crouched down in front of Aldrich- only just out of arms' reach. "He died after he led a large group to Wall Rose. We thought he was trying to get us all in, but that turned out to be a lie."
Aldrich barked out a single laugh. "Let me guess, that idiot didn't tell you guys anything, did he?"
"What are you talking about?" Christophe shouted, stepping closer to Aldrich, his fists balled and held up, ready to fight.
"Nothing that concerns you," Aldrich snapped. Mercedes dug her boot into his face and he groaned, trying to wriggle away.
"I think it does concern us, and you need to explain." Eve's frown seemed cemented into place, as if she'd never worn any other expression. The wrinkles around her mouth, eyes, and the bridge of her nose were deep and seemed more in place than the faint smile or silly grin from just a few minutes ago. Armin's mind was racing with the possibilities, and he didn't like anything he came up with.
"No, thanks," Aldrich grunted. "I'd rather die."
"You're one of them, aren't you?" It was surprising to hear the accusation come from Alois and not Eve. When Armin looked over at her, though, he just found pain and sadness buried in the wrinkles from her angry frown.
The way the man's dark eyes closed and his eyebrows knitted together spoke volumes to Armin. It wasn't hard to guess that the man was also a Titan-shifter, but he hadn't transformed and seemed to have no desire to do so. Who was he working for, though? What secret was so important that his life was worth sacrificing?
When no answer came, Eve took one step forward. He anticipated her move just before she made it, and stopped her with one hand on her shoulder. Eve's normally bright green eyes sliced into him with a certain darkness that made him shudder. "Remember what I told you about Annie?" Considering his story about how his friend had encased herself in that impenetrable shell rather than let herself be taken alive, Eve nodded once.
"Micah knew all about you, didn't he?" Christophe accused. He fell to his knees in the snow beside Aldrich's head. The one eating snow didn't answer. "How could you do this to me? I thought… I thought you were my friend."
"Being your friend had nothing to do with it," Aldrich spat. "Micah was the leader- he knew how to make the decisions that were best for the village!"
"It was his decision to go to Wall Rose in the first place!" Christophe roared. "He led all those people to their deaths."
"It was all necessary." Aldrich was struggling against Mercedes' hold again, working on his arms this time. She stretched his arms higher, his shoulders bending back with the force.
"Necessary for what?" Alois looked up at Doc. The gray man had tears in his eyes. "What would possess you to do this to me? To your mother? We were devastated the day you died!"
"I didn't have a choice," Aldrich insisted.
"A choice about what?" Christophe asked tightly, his body shaking. "About abandoning us all? About keeping so many secrets? About coming back?"
Aldrich did not answer. His eyes were focused on the snow, and Armin could see him thinking hard about something. It was nerve-wracking, watching all of these people worry about this man who was supposed to be dead- the man who was a Titan-shifter that no one knew about.
"I guess we should be lucky that you haven't transformed and tried to kill us all," Eve spat down at Aldrich, her voice full of contempt. "You disgust me."
"And you're a fucking idiot!" Aldrich yelled up at her. "How could you bring them all here? You should have just stayed in the village!"
"Our people were dying!" Eve screamed back, throwing out one hand as a gesture to Christophe, Doc, and Mina. "I did what I thought was best for them!"
Aldrich struggled against Mercedes' boot and hold, but only managed to melt a little more of the snow around him. "I taught you everything you needed to know about staying alive out there! Now everything we worked so hard for is pointless!"
"What were you working for?" Armin asked. He wanted answers just as much as Eve and Alois, but he needed to know who Aldrich was working for. If he knew that, then maybe he could figure out a way to save Annie…
"Nothing that concerns you," the man bit back. "Now let me go!"
His eyes widened as he watched the glint of thought flash over Aldrich's eyes. In one swift move, Aldrich snatched his arm to the side. Mercedes was jerked to the side with the movement, losing her grip on his arms and her boot leaving his head to thump into the snow so that she could remain on her feet. The sickening crunch was followed by a split second of silence, and then the crack of thunder that he'd come to associate with Eren's transformations. They were all blown backwards by the force of the steam. He lost sight of everyone else for several long seconds, but managed to look up at the Titan that had appeared before them.
It wasn't very tall- maybe only a seven-meter class, but it was burly- nearly as wide as it was tall with arms that fell down the ground and ended in fists at least two meters across. Its eyes were little more than dark slits set far apart in the wide face. It opened its mouth, letting out a long and tortured-sounding scream. It wasn't full of rage like Eren's were- this one felt like an ancient sadness. Only a moment later, two dark and swift blots- Eve and Mercedes, he assumed- spun out of the steam, slicing into various locations- including the back of its neck. It fell in a loud thump before it could so much as lift one arm to defend itself.
"Alois!" Eve shouted. Fresh clouds of steam from the now-disintegrating body of the Titan that was once Aldrich had clouded the air again.
"Over here!" he heard Alois answer from an undetermined distance to his left. "I got Mina. Where's Doc and Christophe?"
"We're alright," Christophe shouted back, also from the left but a little farther away.
"What the fuck was all that about?" Mercedes was demanding. Armin took a deep breath and huffed as he ran blindly for where he thought Eve was. When she became visible, Mercedes was still on the defensive, but her swords were pointed at Eve.
"Stop!" he shouted. His mind raced with something else to back up that statement, but all he could come up with was the absolute worst possible contingency. "We don't know that he's dead."
"He is." Eve stood straight and turned slightly. There was a wide splatter of blood covering most of her left side. She held Aldrich's head by the hair in her left hand. "I doubt he can regenerate without this."
"So he was part of your village and you thought he died, but he turned out to be a Titan-shifter?" Mercedes questioned, sounding sarcastic and bitter.
"That's what it looks like," Eve snapped back at her. "I don't understand any of this! I didn't even know people could turn into Titans until they told me about Eren Yeager. Now one of my own people turns out to be one!" She tossed Aldrich's head angrily to the ground. It rolled through the snow, leaving a red smear of blood as it went.
"Are the Military Police really on their way?" Armin asked. He was reluctant to have them show up. That meant explanations and more trouble for Eve and her people. If word got out that one of the people from Eve's village that was believe to be dead turned out to be a Titan-shifter hiding inside the Walls, they'd all be turned out for sure.
Mercedes shook her head. "I sent Baena and Fhalz to find you and Captain Levi."
Eve nodded once and sighed heavily. She was staring at the decapitated head of her mentor, slowly disintegrating in the snow along with the rest of the Titan body. "Thanks," Eve said softly. "I guess we can deal with this when Levi gets here." Armin didn't miss the way Mercedes eyed Eve for not using the Captain's proper title, but she said nothing about it.
The steam was clearing out with a chilly breeze, revealing Alois and Mina holding each other. Mina was crying softly into Alois' shoulder. Christophe had lent his arm as support for Doc and they were headed for them now. Eve brushed the back of her head once more and kicked at a small mound of snow that had piled up from the earlier scuffle.
Eve glanced over at him with her sideways smirk. "Sorry about that." He gave her a small smile and shook his head. Turning her attention to Mina for a moment, she gestured to her blood-splattered left side. "I don't think Leo should see me this way."
"Come on," Alois said, looking to Eve and giving Mina's shoulders one last squeeze. "You can get a bath while we wait for the Captain." Alois and Mina lead the way, with Eve taking the middle and Christophe helping Doc along after her.
Mercedes was eyeing him with a certain look that he knew he didn't want to answer to. Once the others were out of hearing range, she approached him. "I understand that the man turned into a Titan, but she takes him down and cuts off his head without batting an eye?"
Armin sighed and watched Eve's retreating form. She glanced over her shoulder at him and almost stopped. The image of her, laying in that little bed at Doc's house, covered in bandages, scrapes, and bruises came to his mind. "She deals with things like this in her own way." It was all he felt comfortable saying. Telling her about Eve's tears would have been a betrayal. The Eve that was worn out and broken down had been just another facet of her personality. It had been real, though- unguarded and raw.
"Go," Mercedes said, nodding towards the little group. Eve had remained behind while the others moved on. Alois and Mina were entering one of the little cottages while Christophe continued on with Doc to a different one. Armin tossed Mercedes a grateful look over his shoulder as he jogged for Eve. Standing there, half covered in blood with bits of snow drifting around her, she looked almost like a statue- cold and marbled.
He felt worse for asking, but couldn't stop the words: "Are you okay?"
Eve gave a hollow chuckle that sent a deep chill through him. "No." He was almost surprised that she didn't lie, but when he considered it further, she'd never actually lied to him. It was one of the qualities he'd never acknowledged, but found that he admired. "I can't deal with it right now, though. I need to get cleaned up and we have to try to explain what happened to Levi. Then I am going to spend the rest of the night with Leo." She was walking away. He could almost see her withdrawing inside of herself.
Reaching out, he caught her elbow with his hand and stopped her. She didn't turn to look at him, but she did remain in place. "You have to deal with this now." His tone was harsher than he intended, but he continued with it. "Don't let all of this build up to the point where you break down again. We won't have time for that after we leave tomorrow." Her shoulders tensed. Bracing for a verbal, and possibly physical, assault, he grimaced.
"I know," she whispered. Her shoulders fell and she dipped her head low. "Tonight." With that single word, she started walking once more. He gave a heavy sigh, watching his breath form a little cloud of fog in the air before him.
Crunching along in the snow, he made his way back to the stables. Grabbing his own, Eve's and Alois' bags, he made his way back to the little cottage Eve had entered. It was strange to spend this time away from Eren and Mikasa- especially since they'd been glued together for so long. The dynamics here were different from anything else he was accustomed to, and with Eve and Alois now seeing each other as equals, it had changed once more. Eve was no longer a fearless protector that sacrificed herself for her people. Alois was no longer a student, still learning from his mentor. They were both soldiers. They had equal shares of responsibility for the safety of their people, but they didn't have to kill Titans every day of their lives anymore.
He knocked on the door twice before Eve opened it for him. She gave him an attempted grateful smile as she took her bag, slipping the strap off of his shoulder and catching it before it hit the floor. She tossed it on the small table by the door and dug through her clothes for the toys she'd bought for Leo and the little purse she'd placed the majority of her wages in. Turning to face him, she held out her other hand and he surrendered Alois' bag to her.
"Come on," she sighed. "You can at least sit while you wait." She was back to being abrasive, but he didn't take it personally. He'd expected it. "Alois," she said loudly.
They passed through the kitchen and into a small sitting room with a worn couch, an old rocking chair, and a single, overstuffed armchair with a book face-down on the arm. The fire was burning bright and warm. Just beneath the covered window was the low-walled crib. He noticed Eve dropping the toys into the chair and carefully avoiding the crib. He left his own bag by the wall near the kitchen, but wasn't sure what else to do.
"Mina is going to rest for a while," Alois stated, stepping out of the narrow hall and shutting a door behind him. Armin knew Alois was only a year older than himself, but he looked tired and, just in that moment, more like Commander Erwin on a particularly bad day. Eve shoved the little purse against his chest and turned back for the kitchen. "What's this?"
"It's for Leo," she answered from the other room. He stood awkwardly by the fire as he listened to Eve rustling around for a moment. "I'm going to start a bath. Make some tea or something." She brushed by them without looking at either of them, but Armin could have sworn her eyes were red. Alois huffed, but nodded and went back into the kitchen.
"Make yourself at home," he sighed, snatching the kettle from the table. "I'll get this on, but I really need to run over to Christophe's. He needs to get Rosa and keep her away from here. We leave tomorrow and I'm not going to let her start another fight." Armin frowned slightly as he watched Alois pump water from the little faucet over the sink into the kettle. "I don't… I don't really know what's in here but I'm sure there's something to eat if you're hungry." He left the kettle on the little hook over the fire for it to boil, then spun for the door. "Sorry."
"Wait!" Armin almost shouted. He glanced around at the kitchen nervously. There was evidence of Mina's recent activities: bits of flour still clumped on the floor and a small pile of potatoes- only half of which were peeled. He could hear more water being pumped on the other side of the house as the pipes groaned. He sighed heavily. Eve would be a while, he was sure, and he had no idea how long Alois would be gone.
He sat at the little table and looked at the shelves. The bottom three had pots and pans of varying sizes while the top three had all sorts of food- glass jars and bunches of vegetables, and breads. There was a bag of rice on the floor, propped against the shelf. It looked like all of the potatoes were piled on the little space of counter where Mina had been peeling them. The fire warmed the kettle quickly. He found the tea set in a tiny cabinet between the sink and the fire. Grabbing the small tin of tea, he noticed the jar behind it. It was large, though it was almost empty. He hadn't had tea with honey in a very long time, so he allowed himself a small spoonful.
The house was quiet, but cozy, even as he sat alone in the kitchen with his tea. He could hear some soft sniffles, but he wasn't sure if they were from Mina or Eve, though he chanced a guess at Mina. It seemed like all she ever did was cry- from happiness or sadness, the girl always had tears in her eyes. She was very kind, though. She'd been nice to him back in their village. She'd helped Susanne out when it came to keeping them all fed.
He fixed himself a second cup of tea when it became obvious that Alois wasn't coming straight back. Just as he managed the first sip, without the honey this time, he froze. He heard rustling from the other room, followed by some gurgling, and then a soft cry. Almost spilling the cup as he jumped up, he felt himself beginning to panic. He dashed through the sitting room and gaped down at the wailing baby boy. When Mina didn't come right away, he felt his stomach sink into his feet.
"I don't know what to do," he whispered to the little boy who was reaching up and waving his hands in the air. He'd never held an infant before! He tried "shh"ing the baby, but his cries increased in volume and pitch all at once. Reaching down, he wrapped his hands around the baby's torso. He lifted him, but when the boy's head sort of flopped forward a little, he wrapped his arm underneath him like he'd seen Eve do and brought him to his chest. Like magic, Leonardo fell silent, save for a tiny yawn. Armin breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
"Oh." He jerked around at the soft sound. He felt his cheeks burning before he had a chance to look away from her. Eve was standing at the end of the little hall, covered only by a towel and still dripping water. He peeked back up at her. She was smiling. It was small and a little sad, but it was in such total contrast from her red and puffy eyes and it took him by surprise. "Looks like you've got things under control."
"Not really…" Armin admitted with a shrug. He kept his eyes focused on the floor. It was hard not to focus on the little rivulets of water that were running over her arms and legs, pooling up on the floor around her feet. "I don't…"
"I don't either," she admitted. Her tone compelled him to look up once more. She was almost laughing now. "Just sit with him for a while. I'll be right back." She spun on her heel and he watched her head back down the little hall.
He took Eve's advice and sat in the rocking chair, readjusting his arms around Leonardo to a more comfortable position. His little mop of brown hair had grown longer since he'd last seen him. He was much bigger, too. Even wrapped in the soft blue blanket, Armin could tell how long Leo was. He was waving his hands in the air. His short chubby fingers wrapped around a button on Armin's jacket and tugged. He pulled his fingers away, but Leo just latched onto Armin's fingers instead. The baby gave a delighted little cry as he pulled Armin's fingers apart and towards his mouth.
"Hey," Armin muttered with a grin. The baby's wide, toothless smile was infectious. He moved his fingers back so that Leo couldn't chew on them, so he shoved his own fingers in his mouth. His gray eyes were almost absurdly large, but seemed to fit his round face. Sitting here, holding this orphaned baby in his arms, it was hard not to think about the possibility of his own children and the realization that this same exact situation would be the probable outcome.
Somehow, without his noticing, Leo had managed to grab a fistful of Armin's hair. He yanked hard and giggled at Armin's protest. He pried the slimy, drool-covered fingers out of his hair, but Leo was determined to keep a tight hold on the blond locks. For the next several minutes, they played a circuitous game of Leo grabbing Armin's hair and Armin trying to free his hair. When he heard a noise at the hall, he turned his head, earning a particularly strong tug at his hair.
"Thanks for sitting with him." Eve came around the corner into the living room, dressed in an old gray sweater and a familiar pair of black cotton trousers. He was distracted by a shout from Leo and looked down at the baby, trying once more to free the fist-full of his hair. He heard Eve approaching, but couldn't look up for the moment. He watched as Eve's fingers gently pried open Leo's chubby fist. He expected her to take the baby from him and sit down to hold him, but she stepped over to his left instead. His eyes widened with surprise when he felt her fingers raking his hair back. "Sit still," she commanded softly when he tried to pull away. In just a few swift moves, she managed to gather all of his hair from his face and secure it in a messy ponytail.
"Thanks?" he muttered, not too sure of how he liked having her pull his hair back for him. It felt too intimate, in a way. He could see better, though, and Leo's fingers couldn't yank at the long strands any longer. Eve was just staring at the both of them, her eyes drifting from Armin to the infant in his arms in a slow pattern. "Eve?"
She blinked at him a few times. There wasn't a smile or any other particular expression on her face. "Sorry. I'll go get him something to eat. Babies like applesauce, right?" Armin shrugged, but she turned and drifted into the kitchen all the same. He was confused. She wasn't her usual sarcastic and slightly bitter self, but rather hollow. It was as if she was trying to stave off her depression by refusing to feel anything at all. Personal experience had taught him that feeling nothing would only make her worse. He didn't know how to help her, though. So he waited for her to return with the spoon and small jar, stood as she sat on the couch, and left Leo in her arms.
Perhaps Doc could talk to her. Alois had his own agenda for the night- not that he blamed him, but he knew Eve needed someone to talk some sense into her or she'd be useless once they left tomorrow. He almost felt guilty for the thought, but the truth behind it lessened the sensation. He could only guess that Rosa and Christophe were still angry with her, and other than those two, the only other person he could think of was Otho. All of Eve's relationships with her people seemed strained now, though, and he didn't want to exacerbate that tension. Doc was the most logical choice for a source of wisdom.
Armin slipped out of the kitchen door into the bitter cold- made so much worse by the stinging wind laced with ice. He thought back to where he'd seen Christophe leading the elder gentleman and headed in that direction. Eve had killed a man that she'd once looked up to. That needed to be dealt with- preferably before the Captain arrived.
A/N: Welcome to the beginning of the end of part two! That's right, folks- this part is almost over. Part three will include the next expedition that Eve takes place in, so that's going to be tons of fun! However, and here's the sad part, I don't know when I'll be able to get around to writing part three. My college classes start back on Monday, March 2nd, so I'll be working full time and going to school full time. With two writing classes at once, I'm worried I won't have much time to do any writing for fun. Just a heads up.
I have had so much fun writing all of this, and I hope you've enjoyed reading it.
A huge, gigantic shout-out to MercedesCarello! Without you, I'd be hopelessly lost!
Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed. I cannot express in words how much I appreciate it.